Week 10/29-11/2

Last week, students wrote their hero definition essay. Many of them found the writing process to be much easier this time around (it will continue to get easier the more and more we write).  

This week, we will finish the essay by peer editing, revising, and reflecting on the essay. It will then be my turn to assess them (I should have this completed by the next blog post--fingers crossed). Next, we will take a break from essay writing and move into actually reading a novel--Maus I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (1986). It is a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Jewish Holocaust that symbolically portrays the Jewish people as mice and the German people as cats. This graphic novel will help students learn about the Jewish Holocaust and research-based narrative writing, which they will be moving into when they return from Thanksgiving break. 

Monday
Hero Definition Essay: Share and Revise (Essay Due to GC by 11:59 p.m.)
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Tuesday
Hero Definition Essay: Reflection
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Wednesday
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History (PDF)/Group Collaboration 
Thursday
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History (PDF)/Group Poster Instructions 
Friday
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History (PDF)/Group Poster Instructions
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
AR Log Check (Log/Signature)
*Students need to be reading an AR book that has a reading level of 3.5+ for 30 minutes 5 nights per week. Students need to earn 30 points at every checkpoint (12/11, 03/19, and 05/28). Please see the Accelerated Reader Roadmap for more information. 

Week 10/22-10/26

Last week, students finished their district writing argumentative assessment (these will be assessed this week by all English teachers and a score will be entered into Parent Portal). Students also started to look at the concept of a hero and brainstormed what makes a hero and how to define a hero with a partner of their choice. 

This week, students will take their definition of a hero from the brainstorming activity, complete an outline, and write a definition essay that utilizes examples and analyzes how these examples embody the concept of a hero and prove the overall definition. I know that we just finished writing an essay, but I did warn you at back to school night--my main goal this year is to make writers out of your kiddos! The writing process will continue to get easier and easier (I swear) and you should see tremendous growth in your child's writing ability over the course of the year.  

Monday
Hero Definition Essay: Apply (Outline Due to GC by 11:59 p.m.)
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Tuesday
ELA Reference Notebook: Reading Section
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Wednesday
Hero Definition Essay: Apply
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Thursday
Hero Definition Essay: Apply
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Friday
Hero Definition Essay: Apply
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
AR Log Check (Log/Signature)
*Students need to be reading an AR book that has a reading level of 3.5+ for 30 minutes 5 nights per week. Students need to earn 30 points at every checkpoint (12/11, 03/19, and 05/28). Please see the Accelerated Reader Roadmap for more information. 

Week 10/15-10/19

We are finishing up the district writing test this week and these will be assessed on October 23 by all the Green Valley Middle School English teachers. The scores will be based on the following rubric: 

40	1) Claim is clear (thesis) and body paragraphs link to it 2) Transitional words and phrases help the reader understand how ideas connect 3) Must include relevant evidence from sources with citation/reference of sources 4) 7/8 ONLY: Clearly explains the opposing argument and why their claim is better than the opposing view
30	1) Claim is clear (thesis) 2) Adequate transitional words and phrases used 3) Must include evidence from sources that support the claim with citation/reference to sources 4) 7/8 ONLY: Acknowledge the opposing argument and explain why their claim is better than the opposing view
2o	1) Claim is mostly clear (thesis) 2) Includes evidence from sources, but may not be cited/reference correctly
10	1) Claim was intended but may be confusing 2) Supported claim with reasons, but may not use sources correctly
0	1) No claim/off topic 2) No explanation

Last week, we also watched Big Hero 6 to map the hero's journey and familiarize ourselves with this literary structure known as the monomyth. As we move forward, we will look at the definition of the word hero and how it applies to everyday heroes, historical heroes, and literary and/or fictional heroes (definition essay) and then apply this to the literature that we read in class (Maus and Fahrenheit 451), while also writing an illustrated research-based narrative in the hero's journey format. Whew! That will definitely take us a while to get through, and it will be the most rigorous part of this course--I am just giving all of you fair warning!

Monday
District Writing Assessment
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Tuesday
8th Grade Inspire Field Trip to the KROC Center
AR Book Talks Due by 11:59 p.m.
Please see the Accelerated Reader Roadmap for more information. 
Wednesday
AR Logs Due
Hero Definition Essay: Explore and Explain
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Thursday
Hero Definition Essay: Explain
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Friday
ELA Reference Notebook: Reading Section
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!

Week 10/8-10/12

Last week, students finished their multimedia campaigns, critiqued their peers' multimedia campaigns, and then reflected on the process. Click here to see some of the amazing multimedia campaigns! From their research, students found that both AR Book Talks and the AR Quizzes have their pros and cons, but it does appear that students are missing the AR quizzes (they say that they are much easier and not as time-consuming as the AR book talks).

Students also started the District Writing Assessment to assess their writing abilities in the argumentative genre of writing. Since it is still early in the year, I am allowing students to use their ELA Reference Notebooks to practice the proper way to write an essay; however, they will not be able to get any other help. Based on their last argumentative essay where the average grade was a B, I am sure that they will do just fine! We will continue this assessment for part of this week and next Monday.

Monday
Non-Student Day
Tuesday (Block Schedule 135)
Big Hero 6: Mapping the Hero's Journey
Wednesday (Block Schedule 246)
Big Hero 6: Mapping the Hero's Journey
*Period 2 Goes to Soul Shoppe
Thursday
District Writing Assessment
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
Friday
District Writing Assessment
*Chromebook needs to be brought to school and fully charged!
AR Log Check (Log/Signature)
*Students need to be reading an AR book that has a reading level of 3.5+ for 30 minutes 5 nights per week. Students need to earn 30 points at every checkpoint (10/16, 12/11, 03/19, and 05/28). Please see the Accelerated Reader Roadmap for more information.